This Wine & Dine Wednesday is a yummy red we had the other evening with a tasty filet mignon & scallops I made for Sunday supper out on the island. Full disclosure, I was absolutely smitten with the label! I was rushing around the grocery store and it was my last purchase before heading to the checkout line. Was completely taken by the images and fonts. Good news, what was in the bottle was every bit as good as what was on the outside. At under 15 bucks a bottle, we would try it again and again.

A little history and wine speak: Pascal Verhaeghe and his brother, Jean-Marc, bring a welcome refinement to the wines of picturesque Cahors, located about an hour and a half east of Bordeaux. Their father began making wines at Château du Cèdre in the 1970s, and the fun-loving sons took over in the 1990s, banning all herbicides and chemicals, and adopting a domaine motto: “Move forward, experience new ways.”

Fragrant & tasty on the palate with damson plum and blackberry fruit. Full, fresh, and engaging, this Malbec is a hidden gem and the fruit is super clean!

The Sunday supper table was all awash in red. Our geranium collection grows, as TPS keeps planting away. Our friend Peg gave us this cool vintage white kitchen pot for Christmas. Beyond usage for cooking, I know she knew we would give it new life. I punctured holes in the bottom for water drainage and off we went. It became the the main feature of the table, really setting the tone. Then it was pulling all sorts of red things to pull it all together. The super long cutting board adding a bit of earthy light brown, playing nicely with the bamboo handles of the silverware. Steak and scallops were on the menu. I found a new red we quite liked that I will write about tomorrow. Then it was lighting a few candles and were set.

The rock shrimp are what caught my eye, getting my mind spinning on what risotto to make out on the island the other eve. I knew I wanted to make risotto but waited to get to the grocery store for inspiration. They also had some biggy big shrimp that looked swell so I got a few of those to roast up to add to the top of the dish. English peas in the organic section in the shell made me happy as all get out and our pot of mint from last year was already overflowing. Done! I was off and running.

I wrote about risotto in my book. My idea for all of us non-professional home cooks is to master a few handful of things, then we can mix up ingredients to make tons & tons of tasty things. Risotto falls into that category. Get the basics down and you can make a zillion versions of it. Roast the big shrimp in the oven to add to the top at the end. I also roasted the rock shrimp for just a few minutes in the oven on a sheet pan. They will continue to cook when you add them to the hot risotto towards the end. The same is true for the bag of frozen peas. They will cook from the heat of the rice. The English peas I added raw to the top of the dish at the very end for a little crunch. They are little nature’s candy. Lastly I tore bits of mint and scattered it about the whole thing at the end. Here is my go-to recipe below.

Heat up the 8 cups of stock to not quite a boil, then turn down the heat a bit, but the stock should remain hot thru the entire risotto cooking process. Next, and here is where I like to use a good sized Le Creuset pot for cooking the risotto in, add a liberal dose of butter and cook a diced onion and shallot till they are not quite brown. Then add a good amount of olive oil to that, along with 2 cups of Arborio rice. Coat the rice with the butter and oil mixture, and sauté for a minute or two to cook through, but don’t brown the rice. All of the above is done over medium heat, but stove tops vary greatly, so adjust accordingly.

Now the liquids begin. Add one cup of white wine to the mixture. I like to use a white that we will be serving with the meal. Stir rice till the wine is absorbed. The depth of flavor the wine adds to the finished product is really noticeable.

Now the waiting hot stock takes center stage. Add one cup of stock to the mixture, stirring till the stock is fully absorbed. What holds many folks back about making risotto is there is a good amount of stirring involved. A constant stir is not necessary, but pretty close. This is where the white wine you opened comes in quite nicely. Sipping a little white wine during the risotto making process is a personal favorite–it is my break from stirring. Continue adding the hot stock one cup at a time, and the rice will become creamier as you go, as it releases the natural starches. Add the 7th cup of stock. Add the almost cooked through rock shrimp to the mixture. At this point, you will be about 20 to 25 minutes into the rice cooking process. You are almost there.

Now add the bag of peas. It does not need to be completely unfrozen as the peas will defrost the moment they hit the hot rice. Stir. Add a cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Stir. Turn off the heat. Add another cup of stock. Stir. Add a dusting of salt & fresh ground black pepper. Stir. Put on the lid. Let sit for 5 minutes, have another sip of your white wine, as we are almost done. Once that 5 minutes has passed, give it one last stir, adding a bit more stock so it is nice and creamy. In a bowl add the risotto mixture, then add the large shrimp to each bowl and finally a few sprinkles of the grated Parmesan along with the English peas and a scattering of the fresh mint. A bit of work, but that will all fade away when you have your first bite. Happy Spring!

I spotted the lone bucket of white lilacs on my Saturday morning stroll of the Market and my eyes lit up. I asked the lovely woman how much they were per stem. She actually was not selling them individually but rather using them with lots of other types of flowers as filler. But she was happy to put together a solo grouping for me. My theory of, if you don’t ask for things in this life, most often you won’t get them, came into play. I will save that whole concept for another post! Anywho, she was kind to oblige my request and off I went with a skip in my step. My love affair is new with lilacs. The big bush at Hawthorne my first time to have a profusion of them to play with and experience their beauty. The white version seem rarer, and you know I love a white bloom. They work so well in many settings. For Sunday supper as well as last night, they took center stage among all the blue. The green leaves also playing nicely off of the blue. My eye catching the lilacs often during the course of the meals, my heart a flutter.

Be it a big garden full, pots of, or a windowsill brimming, living with herbs can be a very special thing. Not only are they lovely to gaze upon, but also ever so fab to snip and use in your cooking to add a healthy hit of flavor.

TPS was busy pruning on Monday which resulted in a stunner of a budding branch. It was so tall it barely fit through the door. It became our lunch & dinner visual entertainment at the table that day. The warmth of the fire and the candles had the buds starting to do their magic. Often, the simplest of things can be the most endearing.

They stopped me in my tracks the moment I spotted them in the Alm Hill Gardens stall at The Market on Saturday morning. I wait for these beauties all year. The bits of red streaking through the vibrant yellow makes my heart sing. They stayed at the shop for the day for all to enjoy, then made the ferry ride over to WestWard to take center stage on the dining table. The majority in a clear glass vessel and three stems just needing to dance in single stem bottles. They made for a happy, happy Sunday supper table.

This Flower Friday is not about blooms but a big bunch of kale filling in for the centerpiece of the table. Both at Hawthorne and WestWard, the produce aisle at the grocery store or a quick stop at a roadside farm stand can reap big benefits when it comes to beautiful bundles of greens or herbs. Often times the grocery store flower section will be slim pickings, so I go to plan B. Kale is usually the winner as I love how full and ruffly and rich the greens are–perfect for a showstopper in the middle of the table.

Flower Friday this week brings us some pretty miraculously beautiful fully blown out ruffly yellow tulips. The snow kept us from getting over to the island for a few weeks. We have some pretty treacherous hills on the way to the house so we opted to not risk it and stayed in town. The house gets quite cold when we are away so the tulips we had left there from our last visit sort of remained in the state they were in when we departed. Tulips love the cool and these most certainly did. The moment we started a fire on arrival, they began their final stretch and dance. They began as tight creamy blooms and ending gloriously yellow ruffled which pleased us both to no end. Have a lovely week-end all! X, TKW

This table really has nothing to do with the Oscars, but I did set it for lunch on Sunday in excitement for The Oscars later that night. I just thought calling it ‘An Oscar Lunch’ had a fun ring to it. What got me most excited about setting this table at WestWard were the red striped linen napkins that are new to the shop. They set the tone for the whole table. I chose the tulips with little red streaks in them to compliment the red in the napkins, if ever so subtly. Then red things started getting pulled from the closet and shelves. The hand painted lobster glasses the final touch added that made it all a bit beach-y.

Each word of the book is so lovingly spoken and your voice exudes such warmth and kindness. You are so genuine with your readers. And so interested in teaching them how to love… Love art…. Love nature… Love small things… Love friends… Love family… And love life.

— Haley from New York

Ted’s ‘Style & Simplicity’ is absolutely Lovely (with a capital L)! It’s also charming, fun to read, and full of wonderful advice.

— Newell Turner, Editor in Chief at House Beautiful

Ted Kennedy Watson has a most refined sense of aesthetics…and he shares some of his best secrets, for which I am so grateful!

— Lisa Birnbach, author of The Official Preppy Handbook

Ted, and his namesake fine good emporiums Watson Kennedy are legendary in this town. What he does brilliantly is quality over trend, substance over vapid style.

— Kaye Wellman, author Eat, Shop, Seattle

If you’ve ever wanted to walk through a stylized photo in a magazine this shop is a phenomenal fix for that as the merchandising is crazy delicious to feast your eyes upon.

— Uncle Beefy at thebedlamofbeefy.com

I feel like a kid in a candy shop every time I walk in the door.

— Apartment Therapy

I ordered ‘Style & Simplicity’ and it was delivered to my home in Hermanus, South Africa. What a delightful book and inspiration!

— Marlien on Facebook

The Seattle tastemaker behind Watson Kennedy: a personally curated store with the absolute best gifts, treasures, home goods, and hand-selected music.

— Town & Country

#genius #book @watsonkennedy #brilliant #perfect #gift

— Howard Slatkin on Instagram

Truly a visual feast for the eyes and palate.Thank you for sharing your abundance of “everything good”.We customers are transported to shopping heaven while in your store(s) and website.

— Blog reader Kris

We’ve long been fans of Seattle retailer Ted Kennedy Watson and his first title certainly lives up to it’s stylish name. The lavish A to Z guide is bursting with tips on how to create a cozy, chic and inviting home.